1916.09
Spring Break-up
Alternate titles: Birches and Melting Snow; Departing Snow; Snow Shadows
Spring 1916
Oil on wood panel
8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (21.6 x 26.7 cm)
Inscription recto: l.r., estate stamp
Inscription verso: c., estate stamp; u.l., in graphite, copper / 201; u.c., top, in graphite, Spring -1916 - J.M. (crossed out); u.r., in graphite, 8 5/8 x 10 5/8; l.l., label, 788 Gift of / 1981.78.2 / R.A.
Inscription verso: c., estate stamp; u.l., in graphite, copper / 201; u.c., top, in graphite, Spring -1916 - J.M. (crossed out); u.r., in graphite, 8 5/8 x 10 5/8; l.l., label, 788 Gift of / 1981.78.2 / R.A.
Provenance
Exhibition History
Mellors Galleries, 759 Yonge Street, Toronto, Loan Exhibition of Works by Tom Thomson, Mellors Galleries, March 13–31, 1937, no. 46, as Birches and Melting Snow, lent by Mrs. W.M. Tweedale, Toronto (name repr. as Twaddle in catalogue).
Glenhyrst Gardens Galleries, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, Thomson Family Exhibit, October 1–20, 1964, ? Traveled to: Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, October 25–November 7, 1964.
McMichael Canadian Collection, Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow, United Kingdom, Group of Seven: Canadian Landscape Painters, August 25–September 18, 1976, no. 3, as Snow Shadows. Traveled to: Talbot Rice Centre, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, September 29–October 20, 1976; Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, November 27–December 18, 1976; Canada House Gallery, London, January 12–February 23, 1977; The Royal Residence, Munich, March 15–April 30, 1977; The Provincial Museum, Bonn, Germany, May 1–18, 1977; The Hermitage, Leningrad, Russian Federation, June 7–July 2, 1977; Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Kiev, Russian Federation, July 11–31, 1977; Pushkin Museum, Moscow, August 10–27, 1977; Ernst Barlach Haus, Hamburg, Germany, September 23–October 15, 1977; Oslo Kuntsforeningen, Oslo, Norway, March 16–April 10, 1978; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, April 20–May 14, 1978; Castle Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland, May 18–June 4, 1978; National Exhibition Centre, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, July 1–16, 1978; Thames Art Centre, Chatham, Ontario, Canada, July 21–August 13, 1978; National Exhibition Centre, Timmins, Ontario, Canada, August 23–September 17, 1978; Northern Studio du Nord, Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, September 22–October 9, 1978.
Published References
Duval, Paul. A Vision of Canada: McMichael Canadian Collection. Toronto: Sampson Matthews Limited, 1973, p. 171 (repr.)
p. 18 (repr. col.)
McMichael, Robert. "One Man's Obsession." One Man's Obsession. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., 1986, p. 269.
Remarks
Margaret Thomson Tweedale titled this work Departing Snow. Other titles include Snow Shadows.
Although the work entered the McMichael collection in 1971, the funds for its purchase were donated in 1981.
Record last updated April 5, 2016. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Murray, Joan. ""Spring Break-up, Spring 1916 (1916.09)." In Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné. www.tomthomsoncatalogue.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=451 (accessed on May 1, 2025).